The Celtics front office has a long term plan in place to make their team a contender again, and first-year head coach Brad Stevens is in lock step with their decision making in regards to personnel moves.

Stevens never had to deal with trades in college, but already he acknowledges that they’re a “hard part of the business.”

However, Stevens feels comfortable with the staff around him in building towards the future.

“I’m all on board with what [front office] suggests, and they really have a great understanding of how we want to get to where we want to go,” Stevens said Thursday afternoon on 98.5 The Sports Hub’s Gresh & Zolak program.

On the here and now, Stevens touched on his team’s recent nine game losing streak. He said he’s trying not to gauge the improvement of his team based solely on results – whether by a win or a loss. The important thing is effort, which no one can deny this team doesn’t give.

One person who will surely help the Celtics improve is point guard Rajon Rondo, who Danny Ainge anticipates will take the floor for the first time this season tomorrow against the Lakers.

“The community will be excited about [Rondo’s return], I think our team is excited about that. Everybody in this building is excited about that. But at the same time I think it’s appropriate to temper our expectations of him. Part of his rehab now is to play a restricted number of minutes each game, so he won’t be back to full form. But it’ll be exciting to have him out there.”